5 x Krueger (sort of)So here are five short recaps of five games i have played with Krueger 2 lately.
Game 1 – Krueger vs Morghul 2 (DoA) - MirageThe lists are the same as in my previous report. Neither of us changed anything.
This was the first instance where I really got to abuse Kruegers obscene scenario power on a very live scenario. I won the roll and chose to go second. He doesn’t dare to run full speed ahead due to the threat range of my Manikins and Battle Engine though. He takes u as much space as he dares and I snipe at a couple of things and position for the next turn. He can’t do very much thanks to being a ranged infantry list vs Windstorm and he can’t meaningfully contest my zone, my flag or the middle flag. With my feat and shooting I clear the zone and two flags and I kill his objective. 4-0 to me. He is slowed by the feat and crippled by windstorm. He does manage to kill the Woldwarden I had in his zone and he also scores his flag, but he can’t contest my flag. 5-2 to me. I can trivially clear my zone from 3 of his ambushing dudes, and I run pieces to contest his zone and flag. 7-2 to me. DONE.
We talked a lot after the game and neither of us could imagine a way he does not lose this game if I go first. Now he could have done more to contest, but he would probably have given up too much on attrition in that case. Things I noted about my list is how incredibly useful TK and Geomancy are. It is obvious that it is good, but the number of applications are staggering. Just being able to TK my own models so they can walk and reach things, or having them punch dudes, the TK themselves to punch more dudes… This is why I wanted to play Circle, and it feels even better than I anticipated!
Game 2 – Krieger vs Crosse 2 (LR) – MirageNow this was against a new (not new to the game, just a different player than before hehe) player (and a week after the last game), and he randomized Mirage for the scenario before I arrived at the gaming club. He is just dipping his toes in to Mercs for the first few times, but then again I’m doing the same thing with Circle hehe. He had checked out my list in advance and decided on dropping Crosse rather than Ashlynn who was his other list.
He wins the roll and wants to go first. He probably hadn’t thought that one through properly… His list has a Galleon, Zelots (awesome shield guards), Bastions (awesome with +3 Arm and Hot Meal…) double Thorn Gunmages and lots and lots of solos.
He runs forward, but stay outside my threat ranges in general which means he is not going very far. I do what I can to take a few shots at what I can reach. For example I TK a manikin to be able to walk and see Gorman in a wood, but alas I miss. I might have killed like two zealots or something.
He decides that he will commit his Galleon to contest the middle and his flag. Unfortunately for him, there is a big forest right around there, so the Galleon has a very limited selection of targets to shoot at, since he can’t draw LoS except to my Fulcrum and the manikin that tried to snipe Gorman. Also, Prowl on the sentry stones is very relevant. He puts some damage in to the Fulcrum and kills like a Manikin. Anastasia ambushes in and backstabs a sentry stone in melee, but fails to kill it. In reprisal I decide that I have to kill the Galleon. I have placed my models very tightly packed though, and I have to utilize a lot of TKs as well as killing my own shifting stone to get a charge lane. In the end I land a Hunters Mark and I get a Woldwarden with +2 STR on him (he had to TK himself though) together with Megalith (forgot the +2 STR there) and Galleon lives. I finish it off with shooting from the Fulcrum and Krueger though and feat which helps protect some of my models. I score my flag and my zone, but with all the fiddling with order of activations to unjam my own models from my other models, I can not send solos to the middle flag or his flag. For the record though, ALL the flags were cleared. 2-0 to me.
His reprisal is not very impressive. He kills a Wyrd and finished off the Fulcrum with the Bastions. He scores his Zone and contests everything. 2-1 to me. His Thorn Gunmages were really struggling with Windstorm and Prowl on the Sentry Stones and did very little useful. So, if I can score 4 points and contest his zone I win. I clear off the middle flag and my flag with Megalith and a Warden who walked up and punched and well as TKing themselves to reach the relevant models. I could not kill his objective because his feat (stealth) was up, BUT his flag is unprotected and I can TK and run the Wayfarer there. Then I have to kill the thorn gunmage that was in my zone, and a newly minted manikin popped up in his back arc, aimed and boosed. 6-1 to me. DONE.
This felt very similar to the previous game, though I was way ahead on attrition as well. Killing the galleon and all his Bastions, leaving me with 3 heavies and him with nothing that can kill heavies was really rough. Going second is incredibly powerful for me in this scenario. I do not really know how things change if I go first, but I honestly do not think it matters enough. Then I will take up more board space and will probably have an even better leg up on attrition. He gave away his Galleon, but if he hadn’t contested with something I could not just TK and push I would have scored at least 3 on the first turn, and I think I win easily enough the turn after.
Game 3 – Krueger vs Zadesh 2 (IW) – InvasionI play the same list, and my opponent is the same Skorne fellow from previous reports. This time he is testing out his other list, Zadesh 2 with 2 Sentries, a Gladiator, a Bronzeback and double Turtles. He also has the regular support stuff including two Kreas and an Agonizer. We no longer play Mirage, which is also something new hehe.
I win the roll and I decide to go second. That was probably the wrong call… He has one turtle on each flank and all 4 titans in the middle. I deploy Megalith and the Fulcrum towards the east with a Warden in the center and one slightly more to the west. One Wyrd and one unit of manikins on each flank.
He runs forward pretty aggressively with his list, especially the Turtles. They threaten the entire battlefield next turn, and I really do not like them… I see an opportunity though because the east turtle is within 15” of Megalith. I Trample and TK it with a Warden. I shoot it as much as I can with a Wyrd and Fulcrum and possibly some manikins, and then land a Hunters mark. I TK Megalith with Krueger and buff him up with STR. Megalith goes in and finishes off the turtle. I also TK the other turtle to turn it around.
His response is to feat and kill Megalith with a Sentry and one Warden with his other Turtle. His other stuff runs up behind the central forest. I have lost 2 heavies, and his feat is up, making it dangerous to get too close. He also has battle charged up, making it hard to walk up without being owned by charges. Scenario feels impossible to win before I am wiped, and I have one heavy against his effectively 5. I have to go for an ultra complex assassination with lots of TKs, running to engage to avoid counter charges etc. He is camping 3 but I think I can get through that. Unfortunately it turns out he has sac pawn warbeast… he has a Bronzeback, a Krea and an Agonizer within 3 after my TK so… That doesn’t work. I had already committed Krueger when I discovered Sac pawn, so… He kills me the turn after.
This was WAY harder. Attrition felt impossible, and Scenario did too. Assassination was VERY impossible so… what to do? We had scheduled other games for the evening and his opponent was playing 40k and they were not done at all so we decided to play a new game on the same table. Lets see if I can do better!
Game 4 – Krueger vs Zadesh 2 (IW) – InvasionSame players and lists, but this time I get to go first. Deployment looks very similar to game 3. I run forward to take up as much board space as possible. I keep the stones in the zones, but they stay passive to force him to commit to contesting the zones in the future. On his turn he gets really worried about my 15” threat range and he REALLY bunkers up around his objective. He has a cloud wall two shield guards and sac pawn to 4 titans. He is under the Krea Aura and he does not have Battle Charged up (no fury for that). You can see the picture below because I felt what happened next was kinda fun.
I say “ok, ill kill you now! And proceed to do just that. Megalith gets TKed by a Warden. Then he tramples in to the cloud to get LoS to the west sentry. He TKs that out of the way (needing a boosted 3). Krueger gets Eyeless Sight and TKs himself and moves up. He TKs Zadesh in to the cloud (needing a boosted 8). The last Warden tramples forward and Gallows Zadesh in the back (needing a boosted 7) pulling him 4” forward and doing a lot of damage to him as well. Zadesh is now engaging Megalith though. My first Wyrd aims and boosts a shot (needing a boosted 9), hits and boosts damage. I spray him with a manikin and finish him off, meaning that my second Wyrd and my Fulcrum didn’t have to help.
This wasn’t a safe assassination, but it is not totally Hail Mary either. I need to land the TKs and I need to drag with the Gallows to get him away from his sac pawn targets (I think 2” was enough for the drag). We were both kinda impressed that I could get to him despite all his preparation. The 40k players were not even closed to done still though, so we decided to play my turn again, but this time with no assassination. We can call that Game 5!
Game 5 (sort of) – Krueger 2 vs Zadesh 2 (IW) – InvasionSo, we start from my turn 2 here. I decide that since he was playing so passively I can just hang back, shoot a bit and be safe for a turn. I shoot the east Turtle a bit but it is under Krea aura. I TK my Fulcrum back after shooting, and use shifting stones to block off access to my army from that one. The other Turtle is far enough back that I can ignore it. Same with his battle group. I stay outside his threat range and wait for his move.
He decides that he will try to press forward with his sentries and feat. He has ret strike and defensive strike with them and I cant really go after the turtles (who play passively and shoot a bit) due to defensive strike. I counter feat and TK the turtles around and out of the zones (or was it only the left zone?) I also TK the sentries around. Now things float together in my mind, but basically what happens is that I use TK to control his list until I have killed two Turtles, a Krea, the Agonizer (finished it off with an electroleap hehe) and two Sentries and he has only killed two shifting stones. I think I have scored like 3 points by then. He has another turn where he cant really do a lot, but we discuss that he MIGHT be able to kill a Wyrd and a Warden with his remaining two heavies (but probably not cause he needs to remove a Manikin that is in the way and has no good way to do so), and even if he does, I can probably score 2 points or assassinate him depending on what he does with his caster, so we call it a night and he goes to play 40k.
This was a really fun game (for me at least) because it is NOT easy to handle the control of his list. He has Counter Charge and Hyper Aggressive coupled with Shield Guard that makes for a LOT more challenging play. I had a turn where I did 6 TKs and still did some attrition. It was a very fun puzzle to try to solve each turn, and this time it worked for me. Going first was definitely the right choice on this scenario, because it is not nearly as live as Mirage, and he has fast elements that can contest the round zones in the Turtles that are very hard to kill and that can not be pushed. I do not think I am advantaged in the match up on this scenario, but it was really fun to play it out. Also, the assassination from game 4 is probably one of those games I will remember hehe.
So, thanks for reading, and cya next time. Ill keep at it with Krueger because it is very fun right now. Ill also post pics of the Wolds when I get done painting them. That is also pretty fun!